Messiah’s Food Pantry reopens for Floyd County residents

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

The Messiah’s Food Pantry at 102 N. Main St. in Charles City was open on Friday, for the first time since last May, when the doors were shut due to COVID-19 precautions.

Pastor Debi Lincoln, who runs the Messiah’s Food Pantry, called it a “soft opening” and stressed that food will be distributed differently.

“We’re not allowing people to come into the pantry,” Lincoln said. “Drivers pull up, are given a number, get an ID to check them in and then they go park.”

Lincoln said that workers at the pantry then put the food order together and let people know when their number is up.

“So far it’s working well,” Lincoln said. “It feels good to open the doors.”

The hours of the pantry will be noon to 3 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays and 9 a.m. to noon on Wednesday.

“Messiah’s Food Pantry serves all of Floyd County,” Lincoln said. “We have about 500 households registered and we serve about 250 households per month.”

She said that comes to over 3,000 individual people each month, and the number has grown recently.

“People have lost their jobs in the midst of COVID, and it’s been difficult for a lot of people,” Lincoln said. “We do everything we can to be kind and get people what they need and get them moving on. No one should have to go to bed at night hungry.”

Lincoln called the pantry a “safety net” and said that the pantry feeds about 300 children each month.

“We’re all in the same boat,” she said. “In order for people to be able to get up in the morning and go to work, and be a healthy part of this community, they have to have food and shelter.”

With the pantry reopening, the free fresh vegetable distribution that had been occurring at Trinity United Methodist Church has been moved to the pantry’s parking lot, to keep all of the food opportunities in the same place. Susan Jacob, a Floyd County Master Gardener, has organized the produce giveaways.